


Out, Damned Spot

by Bunney



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-26
Updated: 2012-08-26
Packaged: 2017-11-12 22:08:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/496153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bunney/pseuds/Bunney
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sequel of sorts to "A Father and his Son", although it can certainly be read independent of the other.  Ginny finds Draco in the Astronomy Tower and finds out his secret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out, Damned Spot

“Oh bother!”

Hermione looked up from her Potions homework to see Ginny digging through her bookbag. “What’s wrong?” she asked the flustered redhead. 

“My Arithmancy book is gone. It isn’t in here anywhere.” she muttered as she continued to look through the battered leather case. “Bloody fucking hell!”

Her sharply spoken oath caught Harry and Ron’s attention. “Gin! Mum would be horrified to hear you!” Ron chastised.

“Well, Mum is known for her creative swearing. Where do you think I picked it up?” She paused, staring down at the bag. “Wait, I remember. I took it out to find my quill...”

“Where?” asked Hermione.

“Astronomy. Yes, I did. I laid it on the floor; I was going to put it back after class, so I wouldn’t disturb the lesson. I must’ve left it there.”

Ron went back to his homework as Harry nodded thoughtfully. “Don’t worry about it, Ginny. No doubt Professor Sinistra found it and put it away. You can ask her about it in the morning.”

But Ginny was already on her feet and slipping her school robe over her pajamas. “No, I have to have it tonight. My notes for my essay are in it and that’s due tomorrow. I really wanted to finish it.”

“You shouldn’t be running around the corridors this late...” Hermione started, looking worried.

“Don’t worry, it’s not yet midnight. I’ll be back in a minute!” With that, Ginny slipped out the Common Room door and ran down the darkened hallway.

 

The Astronomy Tower, the tallest of all the towers at Hogwarts, was on the other side of the Great Hall from the Gryffindor dormitory and it took Ginny several minutes to reach. It was late and no one else was about. She heard voices, muted, coming from the staff room or maybe the Great Hall itself, but she wasted no time eavesdropping, as she might’ve done at another time. 

Instead, she climbed up into the tower, then into the Astronomy classroom itself. It was utterly dark, the only light coming from the balcony doors, up on the loft.

Ginny stooped down by her desk and felt around, but there was no book resting on the stone floor. Fishing her wand out of the voluminous pocket of her robe, she whispered, “ _lumos_ ,” and the tip glowed brightly, illuminating the floor in a warm circle. The book was gone.

“Damn.” Standing up, she cast the light from the wand around the room and, to her relief, saw the book resting on the edge of Sinistra’s desk. She was reaching out to pick it up when she heard a muffled cry. 

She froze, her heart jackhammering in her chest. Ginny wasn’t  
normally a fearful person, yet she cursed herself for not asking Harry or Ron to come with her. She held her breath and listened carefully.

The room was silent, ghostly, and Ginny began to think maybe she’d imagined the sound, when she heard another sound, like glass on stone. It was coming from the loft.

It was then that Ginny noticed that the balcony doors were open. Someone was up there. Clutching her wand tightly in her hands, she tiptoed silently up the curved staircase. 

Despite the wan moonlight shining through the open doors, the loft was cast in deep shadow. She could hear someone now, labored breath, each one catching on the faintest sob.

“Hello? Professor Sinistra...is that you?” She raised her wand, trying to see into the shadows. “Are you hurt?”  
Instead of Professor Sinistra’s gentle brogue, a hoarse snarl greeted her. “Go away, Weasley! Just...just fucking go away!”

The voice, harsh with tension, damp with pain, was unmistakable.

Malfoy.

She was greatly tempted to turn immediately and leave the Tower, but the obvious distress in his voice made her pause. Ginny took another step forward, holding her wand high. She started as her foot bumped a glass flask. It tipped and a pale arm shot out of the shadows and caught it. The clear liquid inside sloshed, but didn’t spill.

“Weasley...please...”

Another step and he was cast into the pool of golden light from her wand. Ginny gasped, one hand flying up to her mouth. “Oh Merlin...oh, Draco, what have you _done_?”

Draco Malfoy turned his head away from the light and her horrified gaze. He shifted backwards, as if trying to cram himself into the stone wall. He was bare to the waist and he cradled his left arm tightly to his middle.

She could see dark smears on his chest and dripping from his arm and the metallic tang of it was in the air. Blood.

His eyes squeezed shut, beads of sweat making his flaxen hair stick to his face. Ginny crouched beside him and he shrank from her, but she touched his shoulder gently. He was clammy, shivering with pain.

“Let me see...” she lay her wand down and reached for his arm.

“Noooo...hurts...it hurts, burns...”

Ginny was stunned by the Slytherin’s behavior. Draco Malfoy was never anything but in control; the other students, Slytherin too, gave him a wide berth, terrified of his legendary temper and childish cruelty. Ginny, alone of all the Gryffindors except for Harry, Ron and Hermione, was unafraid of Malfoy, recognizing him for what he was: a spoiled, pampered brat who had a streak of cowardice a mile wide. He wasn’t to be feared as much as pitied, as far as Ginny was concerned.

She tried to pull his arm away from his body, but he was strong and he fought to get away from her. “Draco...you’re bleeding! Let me get help...”

“No!” He lunged forward then, grabbing her wrist in a grip that was slick with sweat. “You can’t! No one can know...I had to do it...I couldn’t...” His voice faltered as his body was wracked with chills.

“I can’t be him.” he whispered as he slumped back against the stone, his eyes closing briefly. “Please...don’t tell.”

“Then let me see.”

He looked fully at her then, his pale gray eyes searching her face. Ginny was shocked at the fear she saw in them. Fear and mistrust. She took his hand in hers and smoothed back his hair with the other. 

Seeing that she had nothing but sincere intentions, he relaxed and she was able to pull his left arm away from his torso.

What she saw nearly sent her screaming from the room.

The inside of his forearm, from elbow to wrist, was a fiery red mass of bloodied, melted flesh. It was ravaged and blistered, blood still pulsing in a purplish stream. But it was what she saw in the center of that mess that made her dizzy with fear.

The Dark Mark. The badge of a Death Eater.

“I...I tried to cut it out...” Ginny noticed, as he shifted towards her, the knife laying nearby, blood coating the blade and handle. “It didn’t matter...how deep I cut...it was still there, still burning...”

He trailed off and Ginny thought for a moment that he’d passed out, but his grip on her wrist tightened and she winced. “Sooo...I found that...it’s some kind of acid...I stole it from Snape’s office.”

“You tried to burn it off.” Ginny finished, her heart breaking for him. “Draco. We need to get you to Madam Pomfrey! You’ve lost so much blood...”

“They’ll know...they’ll think I’m like _him_!” he spat. “I’m not! I couldn’t stop them! I couldn’t...”

“Your father, he forced you to do this? Take the Mark?”

He nodded, face tight with agony. “Just before the term started. Hit me...he hit me...they crowded in on me, held me down...I couldn’t stop him!”

He was staring at her now, his eyes maddened and Ginny feared for his sanity. She needed to get help, but he was so adamant...

Knowing she had no choice, she picked up her wand and pointed the tip at his chest. He jerked away, comprehension dawning on his pale face. “Nooo!”

“ _Stupefy_!” 

His eyes glazed over and he fell back, his grip on her wrist loosening. The spell would only last a few minutes, but it would be long enough for her to get help.

Gathering her robe in her hands, she raced down the Astronomy Tower steps and towards the Great Hall, hoping that the voices she heard in the staff room weren’t just Hogwart’s ghosts.

 

She paused only for the briefest of moments outside the staff room door, which was tucked into a corner of the Great Hall, behind the teachers’ table. This room was off-limits to students, a sanctuary for only the Headmaster and his professors.

With only Draco in mind, she flung the heavy door open with a flick of her wand and dashed inside.

Professor Dumbledore and Professors Snape and McGonagall were sitting around a smallish round table, a china tea service between them. Snape came to his feet first, rage darkening his stern features. “Miss Weasley! How dare you...”

He faltered when she crumpled to the floor at Dumbledore’s feet, clutching at the elderly headmaster’s robes with bloodied hands. “Professor, come quick!”

Dumbledore gently lifted Ginny to her feet, his kindly eyes sending Ginny to tears. “There now, Miss Weasley...where are we to go?”

“Th-the...Astronomy...Tower,” she gasped. “I-it’s Malfoy, sir.”

“He’s hurt, girl?” Snape asked, worry replacing his previous anger.

Dumbledore turned to McGonagall. “Minerva, please bring Madam Pomfrey to the Astronomy Tower. Ginevra dear, show us.”

Both professors followed her as she swiftly ran back to the Tower and up the stairs. Snape said an illumination charm and the candles scattered around the room ignited.

“Up here!”

Draco was just then coming around, too weak to protest as Dumbledore knelt beside him, tenderly lifting Draco’s arm and turning it up to the light. If he was appalled at the sight of the damage the boy had done to himself, he gave no indication.

Snape picked up the flask and sniffed it carefully. “Piskins Acid...it’s extremely corrosive. What was he trying to...” he started to ask, then his eyes fell on the inky tattoo on Draco’s inner arm and fell silent.

“He tried to cut it out first; there’s the knife, there,” she pointed and Snape used his wand to levitate it to his hand. “He said that it wouldn’t come off.”

Dumbledore nodded gravely, his gaze on Draco. “It wouldn’t, not through conventional means. The only way to erase the Dark Mark is for Voldemort to die.”

Ginny flinched at the name and Snape looked even angrier than before. She touched the Headmaster’s shoulder. “Can you help him?”

At that moment, Professor McGonagall swept in, followed by Madam Pomfrey. The mediwitch quickly conjured a stretcher and levitated Draco onto it, her firm, capable hands already moving over the young man’s arm, casting a spell to slow the blood loss. She swiftly maneuvered the stretcher down the stairs and out of the Tower, followed by Snape.

Professor McGonagall looked down at Ginny with a somber gaze. “You acted quickly and selflessly, Miss Weasley. He’ll recover.”

“Two hundred points to Gryffindor, Miss Weasley, for saving another student’s life,” Dumbledore said, smiling gently. “It’s best you get back to your bed, now. Mr. Malfoy’s in good hands.”

With that, he escorted Ginny and McGonagall out of the Tower. They separated at the Great Hall, the Headmaster heading for the Infirmary and McGonagall and Ginny for Gryffindor Tower. When they reached the Fat Lady, the professor gave the password, _cherry cotton floss_ , and stepped into the Common Room. 

It was well after midnight now and all of the Gryffindors had gone to bed, with the exception of Ron, Hermione and Harry. Ron was pacing in front of the fireplace, but stopped when he saw Ginny and the professor. The three friends rushed over to them. 

“You’re bleeding!” Ron yelled, worry creasing his face. “What happened?”

“It’s not mine...it’s nothing.” Ginny didn’t want to share Draco’s secret and Professor McGonagall easily picked up the charade. 

“Not to fear, children. Ginny came across one of our post owls in the Tower...it had apparently been attacked by a hawk. She brought it to Madam Pomfrey and got the bird’s blood on her robes.” She looked down at Ginny and smiled. “Nothing a nice warm bath and bed won’t cure. You’re excused from all your morning classes, Ginevra. I’ll inform your teachers.”

With that, McGonagall led Ginny up the girl’s dorm steps, leaving behind three very confused friends.

 

In the Infirmary, Draco Malfoy clung stubbornly to consciousness, the imposing figures of Dumbledore and Snape swimming in and out of his blurred vision. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, standing as they were out of Madam Pomfrey’s way as she bustled around his bed, covering him with a warmed quilt and pulling the curtains around to give him privacy. But they had identical expressions of concern as they whispered urgently. Snape, his dark eyes inscrutable, glanced at Draco for several long moments, before accompanying Dumbledore from the room.

His last thought as Pomfrey’s healing spells took effect were of Ginny Weasley and the concern she’d shown for him, honest concern, despite the equal measures of animosity they had for each other. Her touch had been compassionate, careful of his grievous, self-inflicted injury and in the last brief moments before awareness escaped him, he felt shame.

-fin-


End file.
